Goodbye to You
by MariaRM
Summary: AU. Abby/Luka, Carter/Susan. What would have happened if Luka's family hadn't have died?
1. The Nice Doctor

Title: Goodbye To You  
  
Author: Maria/maria@glistence.net Summary: AU, Luka/Abby, Susan/Carter. What would happen if Luka's family was still alive? Would Luka and Abby still find themselves brought together? Would it still be just as tragic?  
  
Disclaimer: ER and all its characters are not mine. They belong to NBC, WB, and other people. I want Luka, so if possible please ship in FedEx box to Maria, West Virginia, USA.  
  
A/N: The title of the story comes from the Michelle Branch song also titled, Goodbye to You. It is very befitting of what this story will end up like.  
  
A/N 2: Okay. Please, if you do not like the fact that there is no Carby in this story, then don't read it and then tell me, "oh, this should be a carby!" If you don't like it, don't read it. If you don't like it for a constructive reason, please leave me a message. Thank you.  
  
  
  
Abby had been working for what seemed like a century. She was tired and cranky and desperately wanted to go home. She was one step inside the lounge door, ready to leave when Kerry had stopped her and asked her to give the new doctor a tour. She couldn't do much other than nod and comply.  
  
"Hey Jerry," she rubbed her face as she approached the admit desk.  
  
"I thought you were off already," Jerry frowned at still seeing Abby.  
  
She shrugged, "Kerry's making me give the new doctor the grand tour." She paused, and sighed, "So they are finally replacing Dr. Greene.."  
  
Jerry nodded, "Yeah. It's still hard to believe he's gone." He reached for a file and handed it towards Abby, "Kerry said that the person giving the tour should give him this too. He's sitting in admit."  
  
Abby took it from him, "Thanks Jerry." She made her way to the admit area, glancing down at the name on the file to make sure she would get it right.  
  
"Dr. Kovac?"  
  
He was younger, taller, and much more handsome than what she expected. He was the sort of man that any woman would eventually notice. She sure did right away. She shook her head slightly, and stuck out her hand to shake his, "Hi. I'm Abby Lockhart. I'm a nurse here, and I'm going to show you around."  
  
"Hi Abby," he smiled back at her, his voice warm and full. She liked the way he said her name, like he was singing it. He didn't spit it out with a hard a, A-bby. It was more like Ah-bby. "You can just call me Luka."  
  
"Okay, Doctor Luka," she replied, returning his smile and handing him his file, "I'm supposed to give this to you also."  
  
"Ah, forms," he said with false excitement, "You know, people could get so much done in the times they spend filling out forms. "  
  
Abby raised her eyebrows, "Well, welcome to County. Forms outnumber traumas here and that's saying a lot."  
  
As if on cue, the sirens of an ambulance could be heard getting louder as the approached the hospital. Abby gave Luka a knowing look, "See what I mean?"  
  
"I do," Luka smiled down at her, and paid close attention as Abby explained triage and the admit desk.  
  
Carter dashed in, heading for the trauma, and nearly collided with Abby.  
  
"Sorry," he said apologetically, whipping his stethoscope from around his neck and continuing on.  
  
"Who's that?" Luka asked as Abby lead him over to the curtain areas.  
  
"Dr. Carter, the chief resident," Abby explained. She and Carter were friends, having met at her AA meeting, but they weren't the closest pair in the world. He definitely wasn't her best friend.  
  
Luka made mental note of the name, and continued following Abby as she showed him around the ER. He seemed completely engrossed in everything she had to say, no matter how trivial, and Abby couldn't think of how long it'd been since someone acted that way around her.  
  
He was just being nice, that's all. At least that's what she told herself.  
  
They ended the tour back at admit, and Luka thanked Abby for her tour.  
  
"You don't have to thank me," she smiled at him, "Honestly. I was just doing my job."  
  
"Well, it was very nice of you, even if it was just your job."  
  
She shifted her weight back and forth, "Well.thank you."  
  
"No, thank you," he smiled at her and waved his forms, "Well, I better go get started on these before I have to come in tomorrow. It was nice meeting you, Abby."  
  
There it was again. Ahh-bby. He had a voice that could melt the Grinch's heart.  
  
"Bye!" Abby snapped back to reality and called out to him as he started towards the exit.  
  
"Who was that?" Susan slinked up to Abby after Luka had gone through the ambulance bay doors.  
  
"The new doctor."  
  
"Very nice looking. Does he have a name?"  
  
"Luka Kovac," Abby stated and looked at Susan with curiosity, "I think he's married."  
  
"How do you know?"  
  
"Every nice man is married."  
  
"Did you see a ring?" Susan asked, picking up a chart and glancing at it with disgust. Not another suture on a scrotum. Where was Carter when you needed him? And what were men doing to themselves these days? Wait.she didn't want to ask.  
  
"No," Abby shook her head, "But then again, I wasn't looking. I'm not nosy."  
  
Susan's head shot up, "Are you implying something?"  
  
Abby shook her head and then smiled, "Please.Susan. You are going to tell me that a nice looking doctor who also happens to be nice wouldn't be married?"  
  
"I could find out," Susan raised an eyebrow, "Seeing as how you are the one curious on this."  
  
"Me?! You were the one that asked."  
  
"Please.nice doctor who also happens to be nice? Abby.you liked him. Admit it."  
  
Abby turned a slight shade of red and mumbled under her breath, "Maybe..I do.I"  
  
"That's a yes," Susan grinned.  
  
--  
  
Luka looked at his locker with disgust. He'd been fiddling with it for the past ten minutes with no avail. He was about to give up and put his things in a box.  
  
"You have to bang on that one."  
  
He looked around and found the source of the voice. A blonde woman stood behind him, a cup of coffee in her hand, looking at him amused.  
  
"I'm Susan Lewis," she offered him her hand for a handshake, "And you have to bang it."  
  
"Bang it?"  
  
"The locker," she laughed, "It's famous for causing trouble around here."  
  
Luka gave the locker a good whap and it opened without any trouble, "Thanks for the advice. I'm-"  
  
"Luka Kovac," she grinned again and offered an explanation for her knowledge, "Word gets around fast here."  
  
"Thanks for that advice too," he smiled and shoved his coat into his locker.  
  
She shook her head, "It's nothing, really. Just the basics for survival around here. That and make sure to put a good five packs of sugar in this coffee or go to the Starbucks. You die otherwise."  
  
Luka looked at her in bemusement and placed his stethoscope around his neck, not saying anything.  
  
"I'm usually not this perky, but I just pulled a night shift," Susan explained, hoping Luka didn't think she was too crazy.  
  
"You get perky when you are tired?"  
  
Susan nodded, her brown eyes opening wide, "I'm one of those annoying people. And I'm probably annoying you right now, so I'll go, and leave you with a cup of coffee to get you through your first hectic day at County."  
  
She went and poured him a cup of coffee and gave it to him along with the five packets of sugar she had talked about. As he took the sugar packets, she noticed the shining wedding band. She smiled at him and wished him luck on the rest of his day, and he left the lounge.  
  
Poor Abby, Susan thought. All of the good ones seemed to slip away from her for some reason or another. This one just so happened to have the worse thing of all.  
  
--  
  
Luka flicked off his gloves, his first trauma at County finished. The young woman was going off to surgery, which was definitely better than being dead, he supposed.  
  
"Good call on the Hepatitis C," Carter said from beside him, "John Carter by the way."  
  
"Luka Kovac," Luka smiled having issued his seventh introduction of the day.  
  
John nodded and began his trek out of the truma room, motioning Luka to follow him, "So where are you from? Or did you just transfer from another hospital in Chicago."  
  
"Croatia, originally. But my family and I moved to New York, but I was looking for a better job, and my wife's sister moved with her family out here, so it seemed logical to come here."  
  
Carter raised his eyebrows in surprise. That was some family devotion. It was likely his family would never do that sort of thing for one another.  
  
--  
  
Luka opened the front door to his house, taking in the smell of the cooking. He wandered towards the kitchen and found Danijela hunched over the stove, in the middle of preparing some delicious concoction.  
  
"Halo dragi," he said, kissing her softly on the cheek. She turned to face him, her brown curly hair flowing down her shoulders. That was what he had first noticed about her.  
  
"Kako je tvoj dan?" She asked, her eyes twinkling. She hoped it worked for Luka at this hospital. She liked being close to her sister, and it was nice to get away from New York.  
  
"Je oti?ao kvalitetno."  
  
She beamed, "Drajo mi je. Da li vi imati hlepnja??"  
  
Before he could answer her, the door to the backyard swung open, and Marko burst in. The young boy had stopped his game of soccer to follow his nose towards his mother's cooking.  
  
"It smells good!" he exclaimed, reaching towards the garlic bread Danijela had set out on the counter. His mother reacted quickly, and took the bread away from in front of him.  
  
"Those are for dinner," she spoke in a voice more heavily accented than Luka's, "Go wash your hands and then you can eat. But say hello to your father first."  
  
Marko wandered over to Luka and gave him a quick hug, "Hey dad. How was work?"  
  
"Good," Luka ruffled his hair and took the soccer ball from him, "Maybe after dinner I can kick around with you for awhile."  
  
Marko's eyes brightened, "That'd be great!"  
  
Luka smiled as he dashed off to wash his hands, and turned back towards his wife, "I think the job here will really work out. The people are nice, and it seems to be a good job."  
  
"Well I'm glad," Danijela smiled at him as she scooped out the spaghetti onto a plate, "The kids seem to like it here too, even Jasna."  
  
Luka nodded at that comment, sighing inwardly. It had been a struggle with Jasna. She really hadn't wanted to move and leave her friends. She had been extremely resentful for he first few days of their move, but Luka had hoped that once she started school, things would get better. They seemed to be.  
  
For that, he was glad.  
  
--  
  
"He's married."  
  
Abby took the phone away from her ear and looked at it befuddled. What sort of greeting was that?  
  
"Hello to you too, Susan," she replied, placing the phone back up to her ear, "Now who's married?"  
  
"Kovac. He's married."  
  
"It's Ko-vach," Abby unconsciously fixed Susan's pronunciation, "And why would it matter to me if he is married? I'm glad he's married."  
  
There was a pause on the other end of the line, "You're telling me that you aren't even in the least bit disappointed?"  
  
Abby shrugged, "No. I don't even know him, so why should I be? Anyway, I have a feeling you are way more disappointed by this than I was supposed to be."  
  
Susan gasped on the other end of the line, "I am not."  
  
"You're telling me you don't find him attractive?"  
  
"Quit turning this around to be about me," Susan said in exasperation, "And anyway, I wouldn't get involved within the hospital again. Not after learning my lesson with Dix and Carter."  
  
Abby sighed, "If you call you and Carter learning your lesson. The two of you are exactly the same as you were when you were going out, except now you don't have the pressures of the label on you."  
  
"I'd reply to that right now, but I have another call. Hold on a second."  
  
Abby leaned back into her couch. Susan, god love her. She was a good friend, but sometimes she just got way too hyper about making Abby's life perfect.  
  
"I gotta go," Susan said, getting back on the line.  
  
"Did Carter just call you?"  
  
There was a long pause on the other side, "No.he.did.not."  
  
"You can't lie, Susan," Abby laughed, "Go, have fun with Carter. Don't do anything I wouldn't do."  
  
"Ha, ha," Susan replied, "Have a good night, Abby."  
  
"No, YOU have a good night," Abby teased, and hung up the phone.  
  
--  
  
"Hi," Luka's friendly voice greeted Abby as she walked into the lounge, "Nice to see you again."  
  
"Nice to see you too," she smiled in reply and walked over to her locker. She took off her coat and shoved it inside.  
  
"How was your first day?" she asked, watching him as he put on his lab coat.  
  
"It went well," he nodded, "No real hectic scenes. Not too many forms."  
  
She laughed at his little joke, "Well, then it was a good day. Take it as a gift."  
  
"Working here can't be that bad," he said as they stepped out of the lounge and began their walk towards the admit area.  
  
She shook her head, "It really isn't.I just.."  
  
She sighed, not knowing what to admit to him. He seemed nice enough, and it wasn't like what she was going to say was going to dig deep or anything. "I was.I used to be med student here.I don't mind being a nurse, but it'd always been my dream to be a doctor I guess I'm a bit bitter."  
  
"So why didn't you finish?"  
  
Abby didn't reply anything, she was actually sort of embarrassed for having had said that. What did he care? Luckily for her, Jerry interrupted them at that moment to tell them at a multiple MVA was coming in.  
  
"See what I mean?" she said to Luka, and went to get them gowns.  
  
-- 


	2. A Lunch and some juvenile play time

Disclaimer: see part one -- He stood outside in the ambulance bay, a completely befuddled expression marring his features. Abby burst outside, ready to go home after a long night into morning shift. She stopped in her tracks as she saw Luka, and went up to him.  
  
"Lost, are we?"  
  
He looked down at her and shook his head, "No. Well yes, I'm trying to decide where to eat lunch. Is that place across the street any good?"  
  
Abby snorted, "Doc Magoo's. Not really. Maybe if you are looking for a severe case of indigestion. The only thing decent is their coffee."  
  
Luka frowned, "I really don't know where to eat."  
  
"Did you forget your lunch?" Abby asked, making a teasing reference to the bagged lunch that Danijela always made for Luka.  
  
He blushed slightly, "I overslept and left it on the corner."  
  
Abby decided to take pity on him, and made a suggestion, "There's a Subway two blocks from here," she paused and then made a remark, "I can't believe that you've worked here a month and don't know the food places yet."  
  
"I've never had any reason too," he shrugged as Abby began to lead him in the direction of the Subway.  
  
She nodded, "I wish I had someone to make me good food like your wife does."  
  
"I'd share if you said something," he said, slight concern edging into his voice.  
  
Abby shook her head and smiled at him, "Luka. I'm not going to take your food. I was just joking with you."  
  
"I know."  
  
She shook her head again, and laughed. Luka had certainly proved himself as a kind soul, but he was still naïve about the people at the hospital. Mostly Abby it seemed. He got along with her the best, but her ability to run hot and cold at time confounded him.  
  
"There it is," Abby said, gesturing towards the Subway, "Now you know where to go in case you ever forget your lunch again."  
  
Luka smiled, 'I'll try and make sure that doesn't happen again. Thank you for showing me."  
  
"Your welcome," Abby said and began to take her first steps away from him.  
  
"Wait-" he called out, stopping her. Abby turned around and looked at him, waiting for him to speak.  
  
"You were nice enough to make sure I didn't starve," Luka said, "I can at least buy you a lunch."  
  
Abby took a moment to consider his offer. She was tired, and she really didn't know if she felt comfortable with the idea of being bought lunch by a guy-a nice guy-that was married. Oh, he was just being nice. And it was lunch, after all.  
  
"Sure," she smiled, "That'd be nice."  
  
--  
  
"My kids love this place," Luka said after swallowing a bite of his BLT sub, "My boy especially."  
  
Of course he had kids. She had assumed he had a wife, and had been right on that guess, but the issue of children never had entered her mind. With his character, he was the type to make a good father, she guessed.  
  
"How old are they?" she asked, setting down her drink and looking at Luka with genuine curiosity.  
  
"Marko's twelve and Jasna is fifteen," Luka said, sighing slightly. It was hard to believe they had grown up so fast. It seemed like just yesterday they had been babies. And now..  
  
Abby's voice shook him from his thoughts, "Teenage girl, huh? They're a handful."  
  
Luka chuckled, "How'd you guess?"  
  
"I've been one myself," she laughed, and shook her head, "They get past it though." So she supposed. She'd never really had her mother around to tell her what she could and couldn't do. All Abby had to rebel against was herself.  
  
"I hope she does," Luka replied, his eyes glazing slightly, "Up until about a year ago, she used to be my little girl, and now I barely recognize her. I don't even think she listens to anything we say anymore.."  
  
Abby nodded sympathetically, "It gets better. They do listen, even if you think they don't."  
  
Luka managed a small smile at Abby. He didn't want to tell her that maybe Jasna acted the way she did because she had figured out that the world around her was a fraud. That'd be enough to make him act the way she did, he supposed.  
  
He bit into his sandwich. Abby was right. It was just typical.  
  
--  
  
"I heard you had lunch with the good doctor."  
  
Abby handed the patient chart over to Susan, "Susan."  
  
"That's just what I heard," Susan said, signing off on the chart with a flourish, "The gossip mill is rather rampant around here."  
  
"I showed him where the Subway was, that's all," Abby shrugged, taking back the chart, "Is morphine alright? And aren't you a bit behind on your gossip?"  
  
"Yeah," Susan said, sticking her pen back into her lab coat pocket, "And I'm not behind on my gossip.I just got to talk to you now."  
  
Abby sighed deeply, "You know.if everyone here cared about half as much other things as they do about gossip, maybe we'd more effective."  
  
"You can just tell me it was innocent, and I'll leave you alone."  
  
Abby rolled her eyes, and sighed again. She loved Susan dearly; she was the best friend that Abby had. Often though, her incessant need to get into other people's business drove her crazy, "Susan. Think about it. He forgot his lunch. Needed a place to eat. I showed him where to find a Subway and saved his stomach from the gastronomical pleasures of Doc Magoo's. He bought me a lunch to be nice."  
  
"And then?"  
  
"And then I had sex with him right there, in front of all the employees. What do you think happened Susan? I said thank you and went home."  
  
Susan smiled, following Abby as she headed towards the drug lockup, "That's what I thought. Anyway.are you going to his house for that dinner?"  
  
Abby looked at her in confusion, "Dinner? What dinner?"  
  
"Dinner, you know? His wife's making.he invited me and Carter.." Susan explained, and then her eyes opened wide in embarrassment as Abby shook her head, "Oh my, he didn't invite you?"  
  
Abby shook her head, "Nope, I haven't heard a word about it."  
  
"Oh," Susan frowned, "Well, I'm sure you will be. I only really got invited because I seem to come in a package with Carter."  
  
"I wonder why," Abby teased as she handed Susan the small vial of medication.  
  
"We aren't together that much, are we?"  
  
"Enough that if I were Luka, yeah, I'd think you two would come together as a pair," Abby said, looking at her friend. It was true. Susan and Carter were a couple, even if they seemed to refuse to acknowledge it for reasons beyond Abby's ability to comprehend them.  
  
"We're not-"  
  
Abby cut her off, "Susan. Say, hypothetically, I were to tell you that Carter was seeing someone else. What would you do?"  
  
"Nothing," Susan said, standing up a little straighter, "I'm not the jealous type."  
  
"Rigggght.."  
  
"What's that riggght supposed to mean?" Susan squinted up her eyes and looked at her friend, "Is he seeing somebody?"  
  
"I thought you weren't the jealous type," Abby said, "And anyway, I never said he was seeing anybody, did I? I just wanted your reaction.which is.."  
  
"I'm not upset!" Susan snapped, answering Abby's unspoken question.  
  
"Okay, I'm going to go over and start up an IV on the patient in exam 2 before you take my head off," Abby said, dashing towards it as quickly as she could.  
  
She had to keep herself from laughing when she found Carter working on a patient in the same room. She composed herself and walked over towards the patient she was assigned to and explained the procedure to him before looking over at Carter, "Hey Carter? If I were you, I'd avoid Susan for awhile."  
  
"Why?" Carter asked with curiosity.  
  
"Nothing, she's just a little upset." Abby looked at Carter with sympathy, "She might just kill you."  
  
"Okay." Carter looked at her with wide eyes and walked out of the exam room. Abby watched through the blinds as Susan appeared from around the corner, spoke a few heated words that only left Carter more confused, and then dragged him off in the other direction towards the lounge.  
  
She chuckled to herself, and put the IV in the patient's arm. She was turning around, and nearly smacked right into a large, tall body. She looked up in surprise and smiled to see Luka.  
  
"Luka..you should be glad I no longer have a needle in my hand," she chastised, "I probably would have poked you with it."  
  
He laughed, his deep warm laugh, "Well, I suppose that's better than screaming."  
  
She shook her head walking with him out of the room, "Luka, the women who scream at everything are big-breasted bimbos from horror movies. I'd like to think that us in the real world can survive by using our wits and deadly weapons at our disposal."  
  
Luka nodded, "I believe it. I think I just saw Susan throttle Carter."  
  
Abby snorted. Luka looked down at her, confused, "Should I ask?"  
  
Abby shook her head, "No. Hey, I thought you weren't working today."  
  
"I got called in for a bit," Luka said, sighing, "I was enjoying my day off."  
  
"Dr. Weaver is known for her evilness," she smiled at him sympathetically.  
  
Luka laughed again, and stopped in his tracks. Abby faced him, her head tilted upwards to look at him, "What's wrong?"  
  
"Nothing," Luka said, shaking his head, "I just wanted to ask you. Sunday, my wife is making me a dinner, and she wants me to invite some people from work. I just haven't seen you that much lately, so that's why it's such short notice."  
  
"Are you asking me if I'm interested?"  
  
Luka put his hands in his pockets, "Yeah.."  
  
"Well," Abby pretended to give it some thought, "If her dinners are half as good as those lunches she makes you, yeah, count me in."  
  
"Twice as good," Luka grinned.  
  
"I'll be there," Abby smiled back.  
  
[end part 2] 


End file.
